The last full day of our Brisbane holliday was a bit of a hit and miss affair. We had planned to have lunch with Lucette and Shane but Lucette called as we were leaving and said she was sick. Then Wayne called and let us know that they was not coming over for dinner.

So Deb and I headed into Southbank for a bite of lunch. It has changed a huge amount but was still a lot of fun. It still has the feel I loved when I first started going there almost 15 years ago.

With lunch out of the way we had a really nice stroll through the market stalls and gardens.

Then back home for a BBQ with my parents. (I take no responsibility for the well done food).

All up it has been a really great week away. I think I am starting to look forward to my own bed and house. Melbourne here we come.

Deb at the Southbank boardwalk.

Happy Birthday Mum!!!Saturday, 10 July 2004 8:09 pm

A quick post from the road. We have lost the rather sweet broadband internet access we had at Serena's so this is coming to you via GPRS access at God knows how many cents per Kb.

Friday was quite perfect in terms of a finish on the north coast. We spent quite a late day at the beach house, following another fried breakfast, before making our way to Noosa for pizza and a fond goodbye to Serena. (Thanks for the slice of heaven).

We then headed south to my sisters place who was unfortunately suffering from a bad flu. Dinner took way longer than I had hoped so I hope they weren't too disappointed.

Today though was awesome. I don't think my Mum suspected anything even when my sister managed to drag her to a shopping centre for two hours so we would have enough time to setup the house.

Anyway it was a great day and it was really nice to have my whole family together ( including my Uncle Richard & Antie Janet) who I haven't seen in ages.

Happy Birthday Mum!!!

Spiderman2Thursday, 8 July 2004 4:14 pm

Another late start after a beautiful fried breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, mushrooms and tomatoes. Yummy!!!

We went down to Sunshine Plaza to see Spiderman2, WOW!, what a cool movie. Definately one I will want to see again.

We then headed off for a beer, coffee and cake at Mooloolabah which was a nice way to finish it off except the night was starting to get a wee bit cool.

Now I am sitting at Serena's dinner table with 8 HUGE pepper steaks looking at me. I can't wait. And I am going to end up the size of a whale by the time I get back to Melbourne.

Here is a snap of Deb and Serena at Mooloolabah...

On full rechargeWednesday, 7 July 2004 3:27 pm

Well the internal batteries are feeling pretty well recharged by now. I feel like I have caught up with my outstanding sleep debt and, quite frankly, I feel really well.

Today Serena drove us up into Monbulk and Melaney, which are in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. I so wish I had a lazy thousand kicking around because I saw some really amazing art in the various galleries. My absolute favorite was this figure of a guy with antlers resting his head on his knees it was actually awesome.

Needless to say the view from the mountains out over the coast and the sea is stunning. We pulled up at a few of the lookouts, here is Deb and Serena looking over Coolum.

Sleep...Tuesday, 6 July 2004 3:35 pm

Ok, so we picked Serena up from the Nambour train station and then headed back to the beach house for dinner. Deb made Thai beef salad and singapore noodles which were really good. The three of us then proceeded to destroy three bottles of white wine, a bottle of sparkling and two bottles of port. Not to mention quite a few beers.

By 2am they put me to bed and we all slept the sleep of the soon to be hung over. Today involved a very nessasary fried breakfast and then the day sun backing on the deck.

After a good shower and a snooze we headed out for groceries and the makings of dinner. On the way back Serena took us in through the back roads and past Mt Coolum. Check it out.

Shopping...Monday, 5 July 2004 3:52 pm

What is it about shopping when you are on holidays. There is something so relaxing about poking around shops when you don't actually need anything or really want to buy anything.

We did pick up Serena a very nice hurricane lamp and candle that looks really cool. The candle is scented and called "Ginger Snap" which smells good enough to eat.

Anyway, another nice day and then back to the house for drinks and nibbles while watching the ocean. Beautiful!

Anothedr really nice daySunday, 4 July 2004 3:18 pm

How can I explain it. We slept in and then started the day with fried sausages, eggs and toast. Then off to Noosa to see what it had to offer. The day was absolutely perfect at about 26 degrees. We just sort of looked through the shops and then stopped at the Sheraton bar for a cooling drink.

Dinner tonight is prawns and bugs tossed through spaghetti with tomato and garlic so our afternoon consisted of finding the best bugs we could locate. A tough way to spend the time. Unfortunately all the place of my youth are now gone, which added to the whole experience really. In the course of our search we also found the most amazing little pier at Tewantin that is just screaming to have us sit there for lunch and eat seafood and drink wine.

Anyway, what does a beer look like on Hastings street in Noosa!

Queensland...beautiful one day...Saturday, 3 July 2004 3:12 pm

...and so perfect the next. Today Deb and I spent the day poking around the Eumundi markets which was very cool. The last time we were here it was so hot that the markets were no fun at all. Deb grabbed a few things but I found the most awesome bbq setting you could imagine. So when I move into my mansion I know just the setting to purchase.

Back to the beach house for prawns and beer on the veranda. And now a stroll along the beach before dinner. Loving it!

Here's a snap of Deb at the markets.

Joke: 3 DAUGHTERS ......Tuesday, 11 May 2004 7:15 am

For a long time now an old friend of mine has been sending me jokes and bits of humour. I have decided to post some of my favorite ones here for everyone to share.

(Note: Some of them are a little 'coloured')

A Mother had 3 virgin daughters and they were all getting married within a short period of time. Because mum was a bit worried about how their sex life would get started, she made them all promise to send a postcard from the honeymoon with a few words on how marital sex was proceeding.
The first daughter sent a card from Hawaii two days after the wedding.
The card said nothing but "Nescafe".

Mum was puzzled at first, but went to the kitchen and got out the Nescafe jar, it read "Good till the last drop". Mum blushed, but was pleased for her daughter.
The second daughter sent a card from the Caribbean a week after the wedding. The card said nothing but "Benson & Hedges". Now mum knew to go straight to her husbands cigarettes and read the pack "Extra Long, King Size".

Mum was again slightly embarrassed, but happy for her daughter.
The third daughter left for Port Douglas. Mum waited a week, nothing. She waited another week, still nothing. Then after a month had past a post card finally arrived. Written in shaky handwriting were the words

"Virgin Blue".
Mum took out her copies of flight magazines and after about an hour of searching she found the Virgin Blue ad. The ad read,"3 times a day, Seven days a week, Both Ways".

Mum Fainted....

Deb's BirthdaySaturday, 3 April 2004 10:06 am

It's never too early to start working on your birthday list. This year mine is full of very boring items because I HAVE NO MONEY, so I'm reliant on the generosity of those close to me (or perfect strangers, I'm not fussy).

Ok, so far here is the very boring list of things I want: A fifth edition Australian Style Manual, a new subscription to the Weekly Book Newsletter, a weekend at the Sea & Vines festival in McLaren Vale, or even better, a night in Daylesford with a massage and dinner at Lake House.

What I'll get will be a model 390 Pocket PC because I married a propellor head :).

I think I had some clothes or jewellery in mind, but, as usual, can't recall them at the appropriate moment.

The web welcomes WayneWednesday, 17 March 2004 11:31 am

My brother has got access to some web space and is looking to set himself up a little spot in his 10Mb of the web.

I have helped him by putting a simple site in place but I am sure that it won't be long before we see Wayne throwing around Javascript and CGI.

Deb and I headed off to the Yarra Valley Grape Grazing 2004 Festival on Sunday. It was a very nice day with great weather and some very nice wines.

By the end though, what I thought was a very nice wine, Deb thought tasted like Blue Cheese. That's not a characteristic you want in your wine. (:^))

The day came around so quickly we didn't seem to have enough time to plan a big day with lots of people. Maybe next year we can arrange a bus or something and take lots of people along.

I have a few photos which I will try to get posted on the front page.

Very sad newsFriday, 6 February 2004 1:30 pm

Unfortunately Hugh Bishop, Deb's dad, passed away on Thursday morning, 5th Feb, at around 10:00am. Majorie, Deb and her brother Chris are coping in their own ways to the loss.

I have flown over the Adelaide to be with them for a week and to help out any way that I can.

Swings and RoundaboutsSaturday, 31 January 2004 6:00 am

Well it looks like I'm going to spend my weekend with my family trying to get my father out of a nursing home and back into a hospital. He dislikes both about equally so it won't be much of an improvement either way.

The hospital system has a lot to answer for. The only people benefitting from this lunatic to-ing and fro-ing appear to be the ambulance service. And anyone who likes paperwork.

Leaving, on a jet plane...Friday, 30 January 2004 6:59 am

Deb flew out last night for Adelaide to spend a couple of weeks with her Mum. Hugh, her Dad, has been moved to a care facility but I am not sure he likes it very much, so they are looking at possibly moving him.

I am having a huge load of fun with my XDA. Here is a photo that I took at the airport while waiting for Deb's flight.

Lunch in the park...Wednesday, 28 January 2004 11:11 am

Here is a photo of the Treasury Gardens where Deb and I often go for lunch. It was taken today while we were munching on our sandwiches. While that may seem rather dull it was taken with my new XDA II organiser!!! WooHoo!!!

Now this is a PDA...OH YEAH!!!Tuesday, 27 January 2004 11:48 am

Way cool. Today, thanks to the kind understanding of my beautiful, understanding and very lovely wife, I now own the latest XDA II organiser. It is a combination Pocket PC and Mobile Phone.

It was a very busy weekend, Deb and I washed and detailed both the cars, with the Astina even getting a coat of wax.

We had Nicky & Curtis over for Steamboat on Saturday night followed by 'Cranium', a new game I got for Christmas. The score was one all.

Then on Sunday we started painting the front fence. Deb thought it would only take about four hours to get it done. After nearly 3 we had painted two thirds of one side and I thought my arm was going to fall off.

Luckily we then did a little gardening, as light relief, and then made pizzas. Yummy. They were supposed to be for dinner tonight as well but Furrugs decided he liked Ham & Pineapple and ate the topping off one while we were not looking.

Overall a very busy weekend.

And she's out'a there...Wednesday, 7 January 2004 8:48 am

A very quick note to update everyone on the new happenings here in, almost, sunny Melbourne. Deb has resigned from her job and plans to take a shot at fulltime study for the next twelve months.

This will also give her more of an opportunity to focus on her Dad over the next few months as well.

Deb has already had a couple of offers of work at the college she is attending so it really does seem like a very exciting time for her.

I'll have more news as I get it.

Oh Christ!!!...I killed it...Thursday, 18 December 2003 7:43 am

Ok, one of the single dumbest things I have ever done. In trying to install a new fan in my HTPC I broke the main processor by hacking it in half with a pen knife. What the hell was I thinking!!!

I should explain that I was trying to install a new quiet heatsink/fan onto the processor. This involved me trying to get the old heatsink off.

Luckily, my beautiful, wonderful, awesome wife let me rush out and buy a new one. I couldn't cope with the thought of having just killed my beloved HTPC.

We went out to my favorite PC shop
MSY on Saturday and purchased the processor, harddisk and RAM. Then, over the next few hours I installed all the parts. Formatting the harddisk took almost three hours, which was a little tense as I wanted to see if everything would work.

By late that day I had it up and running with all the cards installed and the OS patched.

It is a thing of beauty, although I took me ages to get all the 5.1 surround sound to work properly.

I will post a few pictures once I get my old desktop computer back up and running. WOOHOO!!!

A busy weekend.Monday, 8 December 2003 6:53 am

Ok, so in about a five hour period Deb and I went nuts and did nearly all of our Christmas shopping. The straps on the bags nearly cut my fingers off and we had to have walked about 100 miles but by the end we had it mostly under control.

We also bought the cats the most awesome cat tree you could imagine. I will have to get a photo of it and post it up here. It is a four storey cat hotel, complete with little hidey hole. So far they have really taken to it.

And as for Sunday we finally finished off cleaning up the backyard. It looks pretty good now that we have all the leaf litter and rubbish off the ground from the hedge we cut down.

I promise to get some photos this week and get them posted in to the gallery for you to see.

Pussy cats and chainsaws...Friday, 5 December 2003 10:33 am

We were supposed to take Furrgus up to the vet this morning to have the last of his stitches out. The guys who were going to cut down our trees had already arrived and were in the process of mulching, with a huge industrial device, all of the branches from the trees.

Well, with cat in carrier, I thought I could just walk past all the noise and chaos and take Furrg up to the vet. He had other ideas. With a huge thrash and roll he managed to get of the carrier and made a break for freedom.

The guys cutting down the trees quickly shutdown the mulcher because they were afraid that he was going to jump into it.

Furrg took off and hide between our side fence and the next door garage. With Deb and I in suits we couldn't get him out without getting filthy.

I hope the little fellow is ok...we ended up having to leave him there.

She's back!!!Monday, 1 December 2003 6:56 pm

I am so very happy to report that Deb is back from Adelaide. Her dad is still in hospital but is doing much better. The best part is that she is back...

Better News!!!Monday, 1 December 2003 6:53 am

I heard from Deb, who is still in Adelaide, that her father is making quite a good recovery. It was pretty scary for a while there with Hugh in emergency and then the ICU. He has now been moved to the High Dependency ward and is under treatment for a number of things, but fortunately he appears to be on the mend.

Someone left us feedback...Friday, 28 November 2003 10:42 am

My thanks to my brother for leaving us Feedback on the site. I was SOOOO excited to be able to build in that function but then no one was using it.

Thanks mate!!!

Bad luck comes in three'sThursday, 27 November 2003 1:15 pm

Ok, so I figured it out and now things should start looking better. First my cat needs surgery, then Deb's Dad gets sick and now I have a tooth ache. So that's three right? No more should go wrong....touch wood.

Some bad news...Thursday, 27 November 2003 7:14 am

Unfortunately I have some very bad news. Hugh, Deb's father, was admitted to hospital yesterday. He has been really unwell lately and was transfered to an intensive care unit.

Deb flew over to Adelaide last night to see him and be with her Mum.

Poor little pussy cat...Wednesday, 26 November 2003 10:41 am

Our little (or not so little according to the vet) pussy cat Furrgus has got a bite on his bum which became infected.

Unfortunately this then required surgury to cut open and clean the wound and then to install a drain to keep it clear.

Furrgus is currently running around with a plastic colar on, to keep him away from the wound, which is annoying the absolute hell out of him. We had tried to remove it to see what would happen but he just goes straight for the stitches. So, little plastic colar goes back on the cat.

Of gardens and chickens...Tuesday, 25 November 2003 7:06 am

A very busy weekend. Deb & I both had finally had enough of the state of the backyard and spent Saturday morning clearing the rock wall and grassed section at the back of the yard.

Sunday we embarked on a mission to remove a hedge at the side of the pool. The results are pretty good really.

We have booked a company to come around and remove some trees in the front yard and they have agreed to mulch all the hedge for a small fee. So next weekend will be spent removing more roots and moving all the litter to the front yard for mulching.

Oh, and the Chicken reference was about dinner on Sunday night. I think it was one of my best roast chickens ever.

My web based VCR...Saturday, 22 November 2003 6:13 am

Ok, this is very cool. I have just finished setting up a web based interface to my HTPC's video recorder. I can now setup the recording of a tv show from any internet terminal in the world. Now is that cool or what?

How was that weekend weather!Monday, 17 November 2003 11:43 am

A beautifully hot 39 degree Saturday meant that we couldn't paint the fence because it was too hot. Oh, what a shame!

Instead we spent the day relaxing and taking it very very easy.

Saturday night our friends came over to watch the Australia vs New Zealand rubgy game. Go the Wallabies. They brought over their new Toshiba laptop for me to take a look at. Very cool.

Sunday was spent doing much the same which was really nice. We did get out and look at a few plany nurseries. We are currently searching for a tree for our front yard.

More technology...Oooh, oooh, oohhFriday, 14 November 2003 7:16 am

Last night I picked up the motherboard and UPS for the Home Theatre PC. I couldn't help myself and was checking how it will fit into the new case at about 11:30pm at night.

The new HTPC system is getting closer and closer to being finished and I can't wait to see it installed and running.

Deep thought of the afternoonTuesday, 11 November 2003 1:59 pm

We should try to live our lives as if we had the choice of when to die. And we should be living our lives in such a way that at any moment, if the choice was made, we would be at peace with the idea of death. Not empty and unafraid, but satisfied with what we have achieved and proud of what we will leave behind.

Be ready to die.

The BLOG is Up!!!Tuesday, 11 November 2003 6:45 am

Ok, it has taken me a few days to get this up and running, and I am sure that I have annoyed the hell out of Deb, but I have the web logging function finally working. This will mean that we can post messages while we are on holidays, which is pretty cool.

Please use our feedback section to let us know what you think of the site. Tonight I'll update the front page and let the whole world know that the web log is up and running.